Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has claimed the Foreign Office and the media are controlled by Jews.

Under cross-examination, he told the Old Bailey he did not believe in the state of Israel "because it means state of my death - holocaust".

And he said Jews in the UK and the US also "controlled money supply".

Mr Abu Hamza, 47, from west London, denies 15 charges including soliciting others to murder Jews and other non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred.

"There are people who are Zionists who live outside (Israel) who are helping Zionists in Israel," he told the court on his fourth day in the witness box.

If a doctor kills 250 of his patients there is not a single word about his religion

Mr Abu Hamza

Asked by David Perry, prosecuting, if he meant that the Foreign Office was controlled by Jews he said: "Yes."

"And the media?" Mr Perry asked.

"Yes," replied Mr Abu Hamza. "If a doctor kills 250 of his patients there is not a single word about his religion."

He was referring to killer Harold Shipman, he added.

Mr Perry, whose exchanges with the alleged race hate preacher were often sharp, asked Mr Abu Hamza who he was referring to when, in the past, he had talked of the "sugar daddies of Israel".

"The people who are allowing people in Israel to get away with the murder they do," Mr Abu Hamza replied.

UK foreign policy was being hijacked by friends of Israel, he added.

'Ideal manual'

When asked if there were Jihad training camps in the UK, Mr Abu Hamza dismissed it as "a silly idea".

"This is not a place for it and not for the use of it," he said.

Mr Perry said that, if there were UK camps, an 11-volume set of books called the Encyclopaedia of Afghan Jihad found by police at Mr Abu Hamza's home would make an ideal manual.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard the books included instructions for making bombs, largely drawn from western military sources, and suggestions of targets such as Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.

Would Mr Abu Hamza allow his children to undergo Jihad training, "as you recommend in your recording?" Mr Perry asked.

"If they want, why not? They should go and see first. They are always scouting."

"I am not talking about sausages on camp fires," Mr Perry added.

'Stirring hatred'

The cleric faces nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which allege that he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims.

He faces four other charges under the Public Order Act 1986 of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred".

A further charge claims the defendant was in possession of video and audio recordings which he intended to distribute to stir up racial hatred.

The final charge, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act, accuses him of possessing the Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad, which, it is claimed, contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".